With a recent article reporting over 31% of global consumers watching anime, it would be foolish for a streaming company not to plaster their site with every anime series they can get their hands on. Netflix has been in the anime procurement business longer than Hulu, but the underdog is fighting back. Let’s take a look.
For the sake of fairness and the reality that I have no time to explore the options, I am basing the top animes of each network based on fan scores from RT.
Here are the top ten from Netflix according to CBR:
Kengan Ashura 86%
Pantheon: 95%
Devilman Crybaby: 86%
The Disastrous Life of Saiki K: 86%
Pluto: 95%
Violet Evergarden 100%
Scott Pilgrim Takes Off: 85%
Great Pretender: 85%
Cyberpunk Edgerunners: 95%
Analysis: Netflix is an anime hunting network, which means they will secure anything they can get their paws on. Some things are not as well liked, while others become cult classics. A lot of Americanized anime like Pantheon, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off and Cyberpunk Edgerunners is doing the best.
Here are the ten best solely* on Hulu according to multiple sources:
Undead Unluck: 95%
Spy X Family: 88%
Go! Go! Loser Ranger!: 92%
Erased: 94%
Tokyo Revengers: 86%
Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War 93%
One Punch Man: 90%
Summertime Rendering: 100%
Hell’s Paradise: 90%
Dragon Ball DAIMA: 95%
Analysis*: As I am writing this article, I realize Hulu doesn’t really have exclusive rights to any anime. They feature a lot of Viz and Funimation hits, which are then sent to other streaming networks, but only a handful of them are solely on Hulu. Half the ones I wanted to check don’t have enough reviews to garner a score so I included a few that might show up on Amazon Prime or Apple+ in the future.
Just looking at the scores, it would seem that Hulu has more 90 and higher anime offerings. You could argue that those who watch Hulu anime are enjoying themselves a little bit better than those who watch Netflix. BUT…
I realize my effort to find exclusive Netflix anime was effortless and I most assuredly left a lot of great anime on the table. This is only the tip of the iceberg. That would mean that any curator could make their own list and beat Hulu if they did the research.
On the other hand, Hulu is no slouch to getting the classics that the teens love. Hulu is for the Hot Topics anime lover, while Netflix is for the art house anime lover.
It should be noted that Netflix is getting most of their higher scores from American scripts with anime art. One could make the argument that Scott Pilgrim and Pantheon are not true anime.
TLDR: The list of great and exclusive anime on Hulu is much easier to exhaust than Netflix, but Hulu promises a quality experience. Netflix has too big of a backlog to even compete, but their recent offerings might not qualify.
It’s very difficult to compare both options when both companies have different approaches to getting their anime.